A spokesman for eBay confirmed that the Virginia Tech killer used the handle Blazers5505 on the auction site to buy two 10-round magazines for the Walther P22 – one of two handguns used in the massacre of 32 people. The clips were bought March 22 from a gun shop in Idaho. His eBay rating was a superb 98.5%: only one person gave him a negative rating. The site says the person has had an account since January 2004. Seung-Hui Cho also sold several books with violent themes, tickets to Hokies football games, and a graphics calculator that contained several games. The eBay material is part of investigators' efforts to pore through electronic records for a hint as to what drove the man to go on shooting rampage.

Authorities sought Cho's cell phone records on the chance he warned someone about what would become the nation's worst mass shooting in modern history. They also hope to glean any relevant information from his e-mail and that of Emily Hilscher, one of the first two victims. Investigators said in court papers that Cho and Hilscher may have communicated by computer. "Seung-Hui Cho is known to have communicated by cellular telephone and may have communicated with others concerning his plans to carry out attacks on students and faculty at Virginia Tech," police wrote Friday in an affidavit seeking records from Verizon Wireless. Another possible clue is his regular calls home to his parents on Sunday evenings. Another affidavit sought Cho's records from the student health center, and police obtained his medical and counseling files.